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tv   First Ladies Influence Image  CSPAN  February 3, 2014 9:00pm-11:01pm EST

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the home of the fee, the land of the brave. -- of the free, the land of the brave. equality always discussed. but there always is underlying factors in why those words are not lived up to for some people. particularly in this case, omen. mr. speaker, we rive in the 21st -- live in the 21st century. women now make up more than half of our work force. as president obama said last week in his state of the union address, paying women less is just plain wrong. in 2014, it is an embarrassment. and we all agree with him. in that respect. and this gross gender pay doesn't hurt just women, it hurts families. and it hurts our local economy as well. i don't know in my case, or of a husband who is happy that his
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ife is working that hard and making 70% of what she deserves to make. any way you look at it, it's lost revenue coming into the home and it can make such a ifference on small things. vacation, education, groceries, food, subs nance, to make it through -- substance, to make it through the week, the month, the year. and on top of that, a woman shouldn't have to feel like she may lose her job if she takes time off to care for her sick children. now, this is something that i know all too well, mr. speaker. i know that my wife and i were very fortunate to have the fmla while we were raising our
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triplets. you see, because one would get sick, then the next one would get sick, then the next one would get sick, then i would get sick, then my wife would get sick and it would start all over again. there's no way, there's no way either one of us could care for them while worrying about whether she is going to have a job to return to. but still today too many women have to choose between being employed and caring for their family. it's just not right and it's just not fair. and finally, mr. speaker, in the greatest nation on earth, no one who puts in a 40-hour workweek should be living in poverty ever. they're playing by the rules, they're getting up every day,
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working hard, two and three jobs sometimes. and still not making ends meet. no one in this nation that plays by the rules should find theirself if that condition. in this country, it's just not theirself g a job -- in that condition. in this country, it's not -- it's just not about having a job, it's about having a good job. half of the work force in this country is women. we know, mr. speaker, in many cases that woman is the wage earner in the home. the only wage earner in the home. and to have them find themselves in that condition is unfact omble in the 21st -- unfathomable in the 21st century. i was encouraged by the president's action to raise the minimum wage for new government workers it. makes snens this day and age to have a living wage.
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something you can take care of your family on. congress needs to follow that example. there are many things that this congress can do to ensure that women succeed. pass the paycheck fairness act. pass the family act. and raise the minimum wage for all. all of these measures have been blocked by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. but the success of women in america cannot and should not be bipartisan as an issue. we must put our political differences aside and show this country that we care and we understand. we owe it to our mothers, we owe it to our wives, and we owe it to our daughters to provide them with the quality of life that they deserve.
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so implore -- so i implore my fellow americans who are watching tonight, whether your member is a democrat or a republican, to see where they stand on this issue. to check how they're voting in your interest. and if they're not voting in your interests, then you should remove them. because when women succeed, america succeeds. and i yield back. mrs. beatty: thank you so much, congressman payne. land of the free. home of the brave. it reminds me of the words that leader pelosi talked about during the 165th anniversary of the seneca falls convention. the first women's right convention that addressed women in social, economic and political life. and it said that women should
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be granted all the rights and privileges that men possess. so, thank you for that message. and as we continue at this hour, i would like to turn to my co-anchor and yield time to the gentlewoman from illinois. >> thank you, congresswoman. i too feel compelled to tell my shirley chiss am story. i was privileged -- whiss much story. i was privileged -- chisholm story. i was privileged to be at the signing of her stamp. i met her 22 years ago. i was a director of minority student services for bradley university and we invited congresswoman chiss am out to be a speaker -- chisholm out to be a speaker and i picked her up from the airport and drove her back had her time was done and we had the opportunity to have coffee together and i felt her passion for the everyday person, to improve their quality of life. and little did i know that she was planting a little seed in
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me as she was the first black woman elected and i am the 30th and hopefully counting black woman elected to congress. so very proud of that moment and gave me the opportunity to reflect when i heard all of her stories last friday. you've heard from our many colleagues that nearly half of the work force is female, yet 2/3 of all minimum wage workers are women. you've heard 40% of working women are their family's primary bread winner. if these women were paid the same wages as their male counterparts, their family ncome would increase by $6,776 a year. this is a $245 billion increase in wealth nationwide. if women received equal pay, our economy would generate $447.6 billion in additional income. again, we all would benefit from this, not just women.
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41.5 million adult women and 16.8 million adult working women live in households below 200% of the poverty line. women workers, single mothers and low-income workers are the least likely to have access to paid leave and workplace flexibility offered through their employer. only exacerbating gender inequality and women's poverty. the united states, as we said, the wealthiest country in the world, is the only developed nation that does not require employers to provide paid maternity leave. and the family and medical leave protections that do exist fail to cover nearly half of all full-time employees. revenue of women-owned businesses are 27% of men-owned businesses. i remember when i was a state representative, thanks to sciu, being a child care worker for a
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day, and i went into the home of a woman who took care of other children for other women so that they could go to work. but both the child care worker and the mom going to work were both very low-wage earners. but if it wasn't for that low-wage earner child care worker, the mom couldn't afford to pay her. so she could then go to work. and it would be easy for the mom to stay home. but they didn't want to stay home. they wanted to work. they wanted to build their resume and they also wanted to give their children the opportunity to be around other children and to learn from those low-wage child care workers. so, both groups of women affected by the minimum wage in this country. but with that, i yield back. mrs. beatty: thank you so much for sharing your stories as my co-anchor. all evening we've heard the stories of women who have advocated and fought in these
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chambers, women like shirley chisholm. we know the stories all too well of the rosa parks, of the barbara jordans, and then as we look to education, we know the stories of women who serve as presidents of historically black colleges and universities, women like dr. j anetta cole, women like cynthia jackson hammond at my alma mater, central state university. we know women who have worked and earned their place in history because they understand that when women succeed, america succeeds. we know the stories of our parents. but one thing tonight i want to make sure that we add to these resources, when we talk about economic development, and we talk about child care, and we
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talk about all the other surfaces, pay equity and health care, and that is the right to vote. and that is one of the most critical things that i want us to remember. because when we get people registered to vote, and then we allow them to be able to vote, most s one of the powerful tools. the stories we don't hear when we talk about when women succeed, america succeeds, is the story of a little lady from headiesburg, mississippi. mrs. by the name of mccarthy. name probably won't mean a lot to a lot of people. she was someone who was a washer woman. she washed clothes for women who didn't look like her or think like her and many who probably didn't even know her
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name. but this woman, in her own little wisdom, truly understood the value of when women succeed, america succeeds. you know why? she took her pay every week and she put it in a jar and she saved it. you see, she didn't have children, she didn't have a spouse or brothers and sisters. and she wrote a little note saying that she wanted these dollars to go to a child that was underserved, a child who would be able to take these few dollars and get a college education. because that would make a difference in that child's life. well, at the time of her death, someone opened up that container and in that container
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there was an estimated amount .f $150,000 so when i think about when women succeed, america succeeds mrs. ll add the name of mccarthy to that list, because that's what we're talking about tonight when we talk about members of the congressional ack caucus being the conscience of the congress. it means that when we stand on these house floors advocating for folks who are voils, that's our role -- who are voiceless, that's our role. so when we seem so compassionate and so concerned about when some of the colleagues on the other side of the aisle stand in the way of providing health care for women, for providing early childhood education, or wanting make a difference in how we
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feed our poor, then it reminds me of all the stories that we have heard today. it reminds me of all the women who are fighting because they understand that there are faces on all of the statistics that we have heard tonight. and all of the faces, whether well-known or not, when you go back to your districts, understand that when you stand with us as members of the congressional black caucus, as you stand with us with women in our caucus, you are standing with all the women across america and the message you are sending is when women succeed, america succeeds. and it is my great honor to ask my co-anchor tonight to close us out and ask everyone to remember that we are here and,
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yes, i will say it again, when women succeed, america succeeds. and i yield back the balance of our time to the gentlelady from illinois. >> thank you, congresswoman. you make me think about my grandmother. because it was my grandmother in the late 1940's who purchased a grocery store and told my grandfather, we're in the grocery business now, and it was because of her parents instilling in her and helping her to succeed and be a role model that she planted a seed for our family and her sons and then my father and my uncle and it just, you know, fed the line for success and all of us going to college because of my grandmother. she was the very strong one in the family. ut america cannot afford to nearly 70% of americans on or
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above the brink of poverty are women and the children who depend on them. that is almost 42 american women and 28 million american children living on or at the brink of poverty. tonight's conversation is about sparking an agenda that will enable women to achieve greater security, that includes raising wages for women and allowing working parents to support and care for their families. i want to thank the enfire congressional black caucus and my fellow co-anchor, congresswoman beatty, who did a fantastic job. as we recognize black history month, we are reminded the congressional black caucus exists to improve communities through policy actions that meets the needs of our most vulnerable citizens. it's that spirit that guides us here tonight.
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when we see women and children on the brink of poverty, we must act. when households are being shortchanged because of bias gender and age, when women succeed, america succeeds. when women succeed, america succeeds. i thank my colleagues for getting involved. i request that my colleagues have five days to revise and extend their remarks. with that, i yield the balance of my time to representative beatty, for any last words. mrs. beatty: as we close out, it is so important that you understand that our message tonight is certainly about making a difference in the lives of those who live in this wonderful country. so let me end as we started with, when women succeed, america succeeds. hank you, mr. speaker.
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the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the request for general leave is granted. members are reminded to address their remarks to the chair and not to a perceived audience. under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2013, the chair recognizes the gentleman rom iowa, mr. king, for 30 minutes. mr. king: it's an honor to address you here on the floor of the house of representatives and take up some of the issues that i know are important to you and important to americans. i come here tonight to try to put some perspective on this intense debate we have had. i start with this, mr. speaker. that over christmas vacation, i
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don't know of a time that this congress has president taken a break over christmas and celebrate the birth of our lord nd safe yoirjees -- savior jesus christ. i do remember christmas eve present that we got from the senate when they passed a version of obamacare on a christmas eve vote, but i don't remember a president ever criticizing congress for leaving town to go visit our families over christmas vacation until this year when our president of the united states, mr. speaker, made his trip to his home state of hawaii and took his christmas break out there -- took his family with him and certainly most thinking americans don't object to such a thing but i remember a speech he gave from hawaii where he criticized for
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leaving town over christmas and said we should have stayed here in washington and solved the myriad of problems we have in this nation. i think when they were here when the senate was in, voting on christmas eve morning, that morning when they delivered to us obamacare, that was the time they should have gone home for christmas vacation. the aftermath of that was, there was a huge wave election in 2010 and republicans in the house of representatives ended up with 87 freshmen republicans as a result of the american people rejecting obamacare. i bring up the point of the president's criticism of congress tore taking christmas off and point out three other topics he brought up. he said he has an agenda for 2014 and this was a preview of his state of the union address. and the agenda has three things.
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extension of unemployment benefits, adding weeks on, what his number really is, but i know i know they supported unemployment and the other piece of it was to increase the minimum wage and he is seeking to do that by an executive order with regard to federal employees and third piece is he called on congress to pass immigration reform. now when you are home with your family over christmas and hear a speech like that from the president of the united states, you think why would he go before the american people with any message like that. don't take a christmas break and i'm going to tell congress what they ought to do, should extend unemployment benefits and pass the gang of eight comprehensive immigration reform bill. i point out also that america now understands that
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comprehensive immigration reform, c.i.r. for short really is three words that encompasses one word and that is amnesty. one would wonder why the president chose those topics and gave that speech at that time. and i would give that answer, no one should really wonder, a president of one party that has the same party that rules in the united states senate and controls the agenda over there, who is opposed by republicans in the house of representatives is going to do this because it's what you do in this business if you are not a uniter but a divider and that is pick the topics that unify your party and divide the opposing party. so he picks three topics that just essentially and virtually unify the democrat party and are designed to split and divide the
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republican party. minimum wage, for example. now, i can go back quite a ways of how far back the minimum wage goes, but every time congress has raised the minimum wage, somebody has lost a job. it has cost jobs every time. we lose more and more of those entry-level opportunities because employers can't afford to train unskilled workers and put them in the work force and ake on all of the risks, the recordkeeping, the liability and sometimes the benefits package that is required and can't afford to pay all of that and pay someone in the work force that maybe has no skills. the reason that the entry-level wages is so people can get started in a job and can afford as an employer to hire them and keep them there and upgrade their job skills and in the same company, move them up through
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the system and wages go up with that consistently. i happen to know how that works. i have founded and operated a construction company for 28 years and in the 28 years, we never paid minimum wage, always paid over that, but when we brought someone in at a skills level, paid them what they needed and gave them raises in proportion to the skill level and production they gave because after all when they come to work, they said what's my job. your job is to help me make money. i recall walking into my construction office in one of those years perhaps in the early 1990's and my secretary had deck indicated the christmas tree and i don't usually pay attention to those things and she said to me,
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did you notice the tree? isn't it pretty. she said go back and look at it closely. i went back and looked and it was decorated. didn't have any lights on it, all it had on it for decorations were gold christmas emblems were a thin piece, thicker than foil but that kind of a texture, gold, and it would be, oh, a snowflake, a star, a baby jesus and different pieces from the nativity scene all over that tree. and i looked at it and i said, those are nice. she said look at it closer. she turned the decoration around and on the back side there was engraved the name of one of our employees and another would be their spouse and look at another would be one of their children and by the time i looked at those decorations on that tree,
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it occurred to me that the decisions that i was making that were designed to help the company make money impacted the limbs of not just the people we were writing a paycheck to but their spouse and family members and responsibility of those decisions impacted all of the names on that tree directly. quite a thing to walk in and understand that, mr. speaker. and see how that is, but all of those people on that tree benefited from the decisions i made hopefully and we benefited all of us together from the work we did together. that's the way companies are supposed to be. good companies, especially small companies prailt like families. good companies today, large companies talk about the culture of the workplace. they want that culture to be a culture that brings people back again, people that look forward to going to work every day and
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they want people working with their colleagues and co-workers and they compete for good labor. we don't need the federal government that gets in between an employer and employee. this system of entry-level wages that gets people started in a job where they can learn a skill, learn customer relations, learn responsibility, learn to provide service, learn to smile and hustle and act like you like it. if you can do that, you aren't going to be working for minimum wage very long. but the president and democrats want to put that minimum wage out of reach of a lot of employers, which means a lot of especially young people with no skills aren't going to get the opportunity. divide, virtually unify the democrats, divide the republicans with minimum wage. next thing, extending unemployment benefits. 99 weeks, mr. speaker? how can we possibly afford paying people not to work for 99
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weeks? the long tradition in this country, 26 weeks, a half a year. a lot of times it's not people's fault when they get laid off, the company downsized. but to give them a bridge to find another job, whatever they need to do to find another job. if this congress decides that we are going to borrow money, borrow money from the american people to run this government, borrow money from the saudis and chinese, 1.3 trillion, so we can extend unemployment benefits and sometimes provide early retirement for people who decide i can qualify for 99 weeks of employment and i can qualify for medicare and social security and my pension plan, no reason for me to find a job at age 63 because this federal government has managed to add on to 99 weeks of unemployment. not a wise thing to do.
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bad policy for our economy. and it causes our work force skills to at trophy, mr. speaker. having dispatched minimum wage and unemployment benefits, we are down to the third thing. in each case, unemployment benefits and extending unemployment benefits also, borrowed money to fund those projects that unify democrats and divide republicans. part of the republicans are saying i want to go along with that because i don't want to take the political heat but inside, they feel it is not a wise decision and same thing with the minimum wage. he is unifying democrats against republicans. third thing, mr. speaker, is this. the proposal that this congress passed comprehensive immigration reform/amnesty. that is the big one of the three
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divisive agenda items that the president ruled out after he criticized congress for taking christmas off to visit our families. some of the result of that has been the pressure that is felt by the leadership in this congress to produce a document that's called standards for mmigration reform. . . these are principles on immigration, mr. speaker. i looked through this and it's got a preamble that starts out this way. our nation's immigration system is broken. well, that was the first half of the first sentence and already i disagree. mr. speaker, our immigration system is not broken. we have a system of laws and a system set up for enforcement. it's not the system that's broken. it's the president of the united states who has prohibited his law enforcement officers from actually following the law.
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when the law expressly dictates that when encountered they need to place people who are unlawfully in the united states in removal proceedings, and the president has prohibited i.c.e., for example, and the border patrol from carrying out the law, it's not the system that's broken, it's the president who has taken an oath of office that includes that he take care that the laws be faithfully executed, i would close quote there, and that includes that. but the president has instead taken care that the laws not be faithfully executed and there are five different violations of his constitutional limitations with regard to immigration. there are multiple others, mr. speaker. the constitution is at great risk because of the -- i wanted to say cavalier but instead i would say that because of the willful disregard and disrespect for the constitution that we've seen, as the president has gone down the line and violated this constitution multiple times.
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for, the president has suspended -- for example, the president has suspended welfare to work. now legislation was written back in the middle 1990's, and i know the altogether her -- author that have legislation, it was carefully and specifically written so that the president couldn't waive the work component of tanf, temporary assistance to needy families. even though the language is specific and the language -- language is as tight as they could think to write it at the time, the president has decided, we're going to provide tanf benefits but there's not going to be a work component. of the welfare programs we have in the united states, at least 80 of them, only one required work. all of the hubbub on the floor of the house of representatives in the middle of the 1990's about welfare to work, there was going to be welfare reform, and people were going to be transitioning from welfare to work, all that have hubbub resulted in one policy, one program that required work. temporary assistance to needy families, the president suspended the work component.
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the president suspended no child left behind. the president supported and his minute ons carried out the -- minionk carries out the morten minions ninos -- carried out the memos of the morten law. this is just part of this. it takes us also, mr. speaker, down to obamacare. and in obamacare there have been multiple times that the president has violated the law that carries his name and his signature, the first and the most egregious, excuse me, not the first, the most egregious was when the president announced sometime around -- sometime last year that was going to delay the implementation of the employer mandate. now, the law, mr. speaker, the obamacare law says that the employer mandate shall commence in each month after december of
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2013. that means it starts in january, a month ago. we're into february now. the president has announced that he's going to delay it for a year. he has no authority, he has no constitutional authority to delay the implementation of obamacare. he has none. and yet he extended the employer mandate or the individual mandate, delayed the employer mandate. when the conscience protection was being violated and the rules that were written by the department of human services decided that every large employers had ge to provide sterilizations as part of their health insurance policies, and religious organizations and individuals objected, and they said, i'm not going to be violated micon shens. the law cannot compel me because of my religious beliefs to violate my religious beliefs. that's a first amendment right.
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the protection, the freedom of religion. but the president insisted, even the catholic church would have to comply. now, for two weeks of national hubbub, the president held his ground and until noon on friday, a lot of these things happened, mr. speaker, around noon on friday, the president stepped out to the podium and he said, now, i've heard this discussion about religious organizations don't want to provide contraceptives and sterilizations -- sterilizations and abortion-causing pills. the religious organizations don't want to do this. and so now i'm going to make, the president speaking, an accommodation to the religious organizations. an accommodation. and the accommodation that he made is, he said, i'm now going to require the insurance companies to provide these things for free. and he repeated himself. provide these things for free. so, i thought, ok, if there's going to be a change in policy,
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i'll bet you i'll see it come back before the floor of the house of representatives and i'll have an opportunity to debate, perhaps offer an amendment, and vote on this change. well, mr. speaker, i didn't really think that. i just knew that's what the constitution would require before there could be a change in the law. but it actually was a rule. so i checked the rule. and -- did they propose a rule change? did they publish it? did they go through the administrative procedures requirements in order to get a rule of change? first thing you do is go back and look and read the rule. did anything change in the rule that compelled the churches to provide contraceptives and sterilizations? as compared to the insurance companies as the president said in his press conference. no, mr. speaker. there was no change in the regulations. the only thing that changed was the president gave a speech and in that speech he said, religious organizations, you don't have to do this anymore,
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insurance companies, you have to do this now. what a reach. what a constitutional overreach for a president to believe that because he spoke millions would line up and swoon at the very words of the president of the united states who, again, is going beyond the bounds of the authority invested in him, limited by the constitution of the united states. that just gives a sample of some of the things that are going on, mr. speaker. and i bring this up because the president said to congress, pass comprehensive immigration reform. he also said, if he doesn't -- if he's not satisfied with the results, if congress doesn't move fast enough, he has an ink pen and cell phone and he'll just run the government by signing executive orders. that was part of the promise he made behind me, mr. speaker in his state of the union address last week. well, so some in this congress think that if we get -- if we
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try to catch up with the president we can get along with him. that's why you see this language here in the preamble of the standards for immigration reform that says, our nation's immigration system is broken. well, it's not broken. what's broken is the trust between the american people and the bond that is required when the president gives his ocean of office to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the united states, not take it apart by executive action that we can't catch up with through litigation. and if the president doesn't respect his oath to the constitution, and if the president doesn't respect the legitimate constitutional authority under article one that the congress has, why would he then respect the decision made by a court? especially a lower court, a circuit court, maybe just maybe public opinion would force him to respect a supreme court. but, mr. speaker, it's unlikely that we will see a case get to
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the supreme court before this president is finally signing off in his last year of office. but i looked at the points on this, standards for immigration reform, and there are four different provisions. one is border security and interior enforcement, it says that it must come first. of course, we know that they would legalize everybody first, and then they're going to try to secure the border. it says, secure our borders now and verify that they are secure. the difficulty with that is, who's going to decide when they are secure? i would hand it over to, oh, the texas border -- the border sheriffs, texas border sheriffs included, along with new mexico, arizona and california. and i'd hand it over to the local government people and let them decide if the states would certify the borders are secure, if the sheriffs would certify that they're secure, if the county supervisors would certify that they're secure. we'd have a pretty good answer as to whether they're secure. but we've heard those promises
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before. janet napolitano made it clear that she thought the borders were secure. and of course i don't believe that. when i mentioned earlier in a media program that just the children, the unaccompanied children that are being picked up along our southern border, are running up to the numbers where, for this year it looks like it's going to tally 50,000, 50,000 children. some of them little kids, tiny little kids, that are being handed over to coyotes to be brought into the united states so they can qualify for the promise of the dream act. 50,000 kids. that's not out of me. that's from the president of the immigration, custom enforcement, who is a plaintiff in a lawsuit, by the way, that is stalled and side tracked over to eric holder and other places. next point is implement an entry-exit visa tracking system. well, supposedly these are the broken parts of immigration. they're going to enforce the
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border because something's broken and they need to pass a new law. we have the resources to pass a new law. we're spending over $12 billion on the southern border and for about $8 billion we could build a four-lane interstate all the way from the pacific ocean, clear down to the -- clear down to brownsville. but then the entry-exit visa system was passed into law. that is the system that was passed into law in 1996. we have an entry system but not an exit system. and so there's no balance of who's here. by the way, if you do get that working, then who's going to keep track of who's here at least theoretically and how are you going to possibly enforce that, given that you have sanctuary cities, you have the equivalent of sanctuary states, you have an administration that refuses to allow their own people that are hired to do so enforce the law. so i don't know why this is a new piece, an entry-exit system. it's been the law since 1996. if we can't get that law enforced, why would a new one be enforced if this one is not?
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item number three. employment verification and workplace enforcement. that's actually pretty good. that's an e-verify program and the language defines it, it says, they need a workable electronic employment verification system. now, if you make that mandatory, you wonder about the freedom of the american people that now have to prove that they're an american before they can go to work. that's a new burden of proof that we haven't had before. and i don't want to speak too strongly against that, mr. speaker. i would just say instead, my new idea act is a better idea. what it does is it requires that -- or it clarifies that wages and benefits paid to illegals are not deductible for federal income tax purposes. it allows the i.r.s. to come in and do an audit. and in that audit they can run the names of the employees through e-verify and if the employer uses e-verify, they get safe harbor on any violations of hiring people that are -- can't lawfully work
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in the united states. but the i.r.s. can look at that and say, you had a chance for safe harbor, you didn't use e-verify. these employees that you declared can't lawfully work in the united states and you can't lawfully deduct the wages and benefits that you paid to them. it's not a business expense to break the law. and so the i.r.s. would deny those expense -- those business expenses for salary and benefits and they could attach interest and penalty and so your $10 an hour illegal becomes about a $16 an hour illegal and you have voluntary compliance with e-verify. much, much better approach to this situation. but point number three isn't so bad. reforms to the illegal immigration system. that is, they want to accelerate legal immigration, mr. speaker, and the needs of employers and the desire for those exceptional individuals to help our economy. well, there's some truth in that. but we're bringing in 1.2
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million legal immigrants a year and giving them an opportunity to pass the citizenship -- the path to citizenship. 1.it million. those folks who -- 1.2 million. those folks who want to change the policy and grant amnesty for everybody who is here and then open the doors up for an accelerated legal immigration to go on after that, to the tens of millions, we're not talking about 11 million, we're talking about 11 million times some multiplying factor that's probably closer to three times or more than that over the next say 20 years. so, we need to come to a conclusion as what's an appropriate number of legal immigrants to come into america. i think 1.2 million is plenty generous. and i think then we start -- should start to upgrade those applicants so that they are young, they have education, they have language skills, they have learning capacity, they have an ability to assimilate into the american culture and the american civilization and contribute and pay taxes so that they carry their share of
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the load, because the day's going to come that they're not. and then, mr. speaker, take us down to the lower end of this, first the dream act gets addressed and it pretty much embraces dick durbin's dream acts, and of course i reject that for the same of this, that again it rewards law breakers, but in the final paragraph, the concluding paragraph, it say, individuals living outside the rule of law. it says, mr. speaker, and i >> it says no special path for people who have broken our nation's immigration. o special path to citizenship. well, if you put people on a path to citizenship who are in this country illegally, while you have five million people waiting outside the united states who do respect our laws, then you have given a special path to citizenship.
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the non-special path is to line up behind the five million who are lined up, waiting, respecting our laws waiting to come into the united states. but they go on and say, but there be no special path to citizenship. they say it would be unfair to those who played by the rules and harmful to those promoting the rule of law. breathtaking. we aren't going to provide a special path to citizenship, except we are going to legalize those people who have broken the law and don't ask them to go in the back of the line. we are going to let them stay here. they were satisfied to live in the shadows. that's what they came here to do or else they came here on the promise of amnesty, like those ids that are coming in for the
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dream act. what they are proposing to is destructive to the rule of law. and it goes on further and it says, but from here on, our immigration laws will indeed be enforced. there is another breathtaking statement. immigration laws would be enforced. i'm very confident and i have not looked but i'm very confident that i can go into this congressional record and go back to 1986 and pull the debate out of the congressional record and point to you where time after time, a member of congress, house and senate said, we are going to pass this amnesty act and from here on, our laws will be enforced. we will restore the rule of law but first we must grant amnesty. those are the words from 1986 and from this document that was released last thursday and those
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have been the words of people who believe in open borders more so than they believe in our rule of law, which we still have the opportunity to restore, even from the 1986 amnesty act the rule of law. if we fail to do so here and now, if this amnesty is granted, the rule of law will not be restored within the lifetime of this republic, mr. speaker. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. members are reminded to refrain from engaging in the permits with regard to the dr personalities with regard to the president. mr. king: i personally like the president and i move now that the house do adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to
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adjourn, those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is adopted. accordingly, the house stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow for morning hour because of the house schedule, we will join our "first ladies" series, in progress. >> it is made here, at home, in
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texas, because of her. i did not know it until i made the presidents radio address in fall of 2001 after the terrorist attack, to talk about the way women and children were treated by the taliban in afghanistan. >> good morning, i am laura bush and i am delivering this week's radio address to kick off a worldwide effort to focus on the brutality against women and children by the al qaeda terrorist network and regina supports in afghanistan -- and supports in afghanistan. the people of afghanistan, especially women, are rejoicing. they know through hard experience what the rest of the world is discovering, the riddle oppression-- brutal of women is a singular goal of the terrorists. the cause in afghanistan, we see
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the world the terrorists would like to impose on the rest of us. all of us have an obligation to speak out. we may come from different backgrounds and faiths, but parents the world over love their children. we respect our mothers and sisters and daughters. fighting brutality against women and children is not the expression of a specific culture. it is the acceptance of our common humanity. >> that is the first time i realized that people hurt me -- heard me and that what i said, people listen to. i knew from then on -- although, i think you never really know until maybe after you leave and see what the platform is. >> that experience helped laura bush find her voice as first lady. >> she did find her voice. she talks about going to austin to visit her daughter at the
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university of texas. was attending college and talked about going to the department store. counterle behind the thank her for making that speech about the brutal beating of women under the taliban in afghanistan. she realized what a profound difference she could make. , buto not see the people at that moment, they told her she was making a difference. >> how did she use that voice once she found it? >> she is one of the few people i have ever encountered in washington who refuses to take credit for what she has accomplished. this is a city where people are always taking reddit for things they have nothing to do anything with. instrumental in spurring claibornewhereby liz
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and the singer sewing machine company donated so that they could become self-sufficient in afghanistan. thinking about our previous caller, one of the things that she and hillary clinton share is the believe that societies cannot be successful if they do not take advantage of half of their population. she was very interested in doing that. although ira member pressing her repeatedly to say, how does secretary chao get involved? how did liz claiborne get involved? out, i got mumbled secretary chao. i think finding a voice from her , her bully pulpit is -- she likes to use it in a way to get results. she continues to do that today. she travels quite a bit, i have noticed. she speaks on behalf of a lot of
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organizations who are raising money for things she believes in. connie is watching us in east lansing, michigan. what is your question for us? >> does laura bush have a project -- does both george w. bush and laura bush have a project or foundation that they both work on and i am wondering if you could talk about that a little bit. i am sorry that we do not know more about it. >> can you talk about how this works in the world of giving and finance and how one can be a public figure and except contributions like this and what it does politically? >> laura bush continues to work on the issues that are of importance to her. is aush center collaboration of a number of different institutions. including the bush library and the bush institute. the bushes continue to further
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they began to take initiatives towards in the white house. >> they do that with the help of donors. >> yes. they raise money that goes into the bush institute and the bush library as well. >> in the case of laura bush, her husband is not going to be running for president again and she is not going to be running herself. donors might gain if there were another bush, for instance, that might run for president. yes, i think that is possible. i think that they are sort of protected at this point from that. with mrs. clinton and the clinton global initiative, i think this remains an area that the public rightfully wants to watch for.
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those of us in journalism continue to try to track, because if she were to run again , those people who have paid her money for speeches or donated to her various causes have a relationship with her. >> everyone watching this program knows about the many challenges during the eight years of the bush administration. it was a difficult time for the country. not only the 9/11 attacks, but the decision to pursue a war in iraq and afghanistan. during that time, there was hurricane katrina and ultimately the 2008 financial crisis. on the domestic policy side, the big initiative was no child left behind. majorministration's education initiative. laura bush continued to pursue her own interests even as the country responded to the various
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bush administration policies. we have seen this throughout this series about first ladies standing behind -- beside their husbands and the public opinion of their work changes. how difficult is that to see the increased criticism that the person you are married to is receiving? >> it is very difficult for them to receive the scrutiny directed at their husband. they know the man. they know the real person. very often, we can get caught up in the heat of the moment when we scrutinize our presidents. they all become characters, in a way. laura bush is so deeply in love with her husband. it hurt her deeply. she continued to stand by him. she traveled far more in his second term than in the first term. again, she had found a voice on so many issues, particularly related to women. be hit the road and tried to
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, tried to better explain his policies to our nation and the world. >> for the reelection bid, laura bush was on the road extensively. this next clip shows you one of the challenges of being the first lady when you are trying to pursue your own agenda and the press corps continues to ask questions. >> i am very proud of no child of mine and the way schools in states all across the country are rallying to meet the goals of that. it is the same goal. we all have the same goal and that is to make sure every child has a great education. there is a very wide achievement title i schools and students in poor schools and that is what we have to address. it is not fair in our country to
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have that achievement gap. >> how has it been in the last couple of weeks for you watching your husband the criticized widespread around the world for the behavior of the united states military? >> i am sorry about that. know that they do not reflect the vast majority of our military. they certainly do not reflect the values of the united states of america. i know this. it is terrible, but the good news in our country is those people will be prosecuted. there will be transparency and what happens and that is one of the benefits of living in a free country. about and i am sorry about what happened to the iraqi prisoners. because it does not reflect our country. >> what are you seeing there?
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>> i think one of the things we never talked much about our qualities of leadership. we talk about leadership in terms of chief leadership is also being pacific and targeted and focused about how much time you have and what you can accomplish with that time you have. bush, case of laura particularly in that second term, when she realizes it is her last chance to have an impact, there are many things she may be concerned about that she may discuss privately with her husband that she is not going to relate to the rest of us. remaina of trying to focused on the areas where she could have impact in knowing that she could fritter away her remain whatdoesn't , iwould call on message
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think with 10 years past, i would leave it to viewers to decide if there is sincerity there are not, whether she does in fact say i'm very sorry about that, or whether she is simply trying to take a pass on it. for the most part it is an anomaly to have her address that there. quick she was speaking about education and initiatives. what was her role in no child left behind? shoot supportdid the direction that the reform policies were taking -- did she support the direction the reform policies were taking?
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bush campaigned talking about the soft bigotry of low expectations. they really wanted to narrow that achievement gap. what she said that night behind closed doors, we don't know. differencesi had with my husband, i wouldn't be telling you. policy byted his speaking about it publicly. >> on the international front, she traveled extensively, as you mentioned. she ultimately visited nearly seven day -- nearly 75 countries. involved inery much the president's african aids relief and malaria eradication efforts and also met with burmese refugees and exiles at the white house. she chose to be involved internationally.
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>> i think what drove a lot of those decisions was the issue of , and in thiss societies in which they work. an extension of that was women wanted to know that they could raise their children to have lives that were sustained and successful as best they could. and human rights flowed out of , the teachings of the dally lama he have been of interest to philosophically there have been a couple of members of the family that have been engaged in that. think she saw a female leader in a country that had been her.ssed and that moved what do you think about that?
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why he got involved in aids relief in africa, where no other president really had given much thought to africa. george w. bush did by far more for the continent of africa than any other president. the reason is, to whom much is given, much is required. he saw that he could do something about aids. he thought if he didn't do that, if you didn't take a chance and invest money in that calls in the eradication of that insidious disease, he would be judged in years to come. i think a lot of it had to do with his religious faith. and i think laura bush shares that. >> this is kathy in illinois. was calling is, earlier in this program the question was raised about when lara found her faith once more.
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i had read her book and she mentioned, i lost my faith that november, lost it for many, many years. if i recall correctly, when she was on the book tour, programs where people were interviewing her about the book she had written, she was asked when did you find your faith? she said he came back to her gradually and she mentioned when her twin daughters were born, she said good things started happening and i found my faith gradually. i found it interesting on that subject in her book, she also one fact, she said the is i had faith that one is never alone. i think that probably sums up how she felt about her faith. >> thank you very much for calling and adding to our discussion.
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another issue is social policy issues. and earlier caller mentioned, here is what she writes in her memoir. on the issue of abortion, how rarely the alternative of adoption is raised. there are so many family members adopted. george and i were expecting to be one of those. infertility is the issue that is most personal to them. we are a nation of different generations and believes. abortionlways believed is a private decision and no one should walk in anyone else's shoes. something that she and george w differ on. >> a thing she said publicly when she was first lady she was not in favor of overturning roe versus wade. gay peopleed whether had slept at the white house while she was first lady lady, and she said possibly.
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the interviewer asked her if she would object if that were the case, and she said certainly not. she let her views be known in subtle ways, i think. you mentioned that she and president bush had trouble conceiving. went to adoption organizations to see if they could adopt when, and ended up having their own set of twins. >> we have been talking a lot in this program about the amount of and she did on the road throughout the 20th century first ladies, that has been a story told again and again. we asked her about whether or not first lady should earn a salary or all their work. >> should the first lady receive a salary? >> i don't think so. there are plenty of perks, believe me. chef -- that was really great. i miss the chef.
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i don't think so. i think the interesting question really is not should they receive a salary, but should they be able to work for a salary at their job that they might have already had? i think that is what we will have to come to terms with. certainly a first gentleman, they might continue to work at whatever he did, if he was a law your or whatever. so i think that is really the question we should ask. should she have a career during those years that her husband is president, in addition to serving as first lady? level, someate first spouses have been able to put through their own arrears. what about conflict of interest? is it possible for someone in this day and age to having a life fully outside the white
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house? >> i think we have to give it a try and see how we think it works out. think there are certainly the ceremonial aspects of the job or you might be able to find some flexibility. we have had other presidents who have gotten married and had hostesses who carry that on for them. some of those really -- iashioned ways of being think it is a relational job. it is not a political job in many ways, being first lady. thes a job about tending to principal in its highest form. a firstsuggesting that lady is a staff member, but i'm saying that -- he once said to me, being a wife of george bush is our most important job,
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whether her husband is president or not. mean that took her to that is her primary relational core of life, and she has other pursuits and she certainly has hobbies, many of which you doesn't share that she takes on on her own. but i think anyone would be hard-pressed to continue, but there is always a first time for everything. think they would say the most important role they play was at tiller of strengths to their husband, being there. >> when we have a pre-mill press -- female president, which i'm i'm sure that spouse will feel the same way about supporting her. thee have a chart about president's popularity ratings during his eight years in office. as you can see, it peaked enormously after the 9/11 attack
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and then continued downward through the years of his presidency. laura bush, however, remain popular with the american public. , she had a much higher rating than the president. what does this say about the american public and their ability to see separately the roles of the people in the white house? >> i think that the american people are pretty wise. , they certainly know that she hasn't been elected to that position, that she somewhat is there by virtue of her relationship to the president. she does what she needs to do. she cannot be held responsible entirely for the political decisions he makes.
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i suppose that sounds naïve to a lot of people, but people would say she seems so like this or like that. she really likes bob marley, so what does she think when she talks to him because he is a warmongering man? that is the wrong question. you are speaking as a voter and . citizen but she is his wife. she is a constituent, but that is not her primary role. >> dennis is watching us in brooklyn. >> thank you for this series, it is great. my question for the panel is, was she more compassionate and sympathetic than other recent first ladies? her saying she would
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daily read the new york times row files of the dead were published at the time and recall her many visits to the walter reed hospital to visit veterans. was this rooted in her being a wartime first lady, or does it fit in with her personality and demeanor in general? >> i think it was both. ladiesre too many first who are overtly political. i think she played a more traditional role as first lady then say hillary clinton or eleanor roosevelt. the things the gentleman mentioned were very much consistent with her personality, reading that a beach wares of the dead and comforting people in need, that was very much part of her personality. this was her trip to the white house correspondents dinner.
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just as nancy reagan had done two decades earlier, she went to the press corps to have people see her in a different light then perhaps they did when covering her regularly. you will remember this time when she spoke up surprisingly. city slicker asked the old guy have to get to the nearest town. >> george always says he is delighted to come to these press dinners. baloney. [laughter] he is usually in bed by now. i'm not kidding. i said to him the other day, george, if you really want to end tyranny in the world, you're going to have to stay up later. [applause]
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i am married to the president of the united states, and here is our typical evening. -- mr. excitement here, sound asleep. and i'm watching "desperate housewives." [applause] with lyn cheney. ladies and gentlemen, i am a desperate housewife. bush at the 2005 white house correspondents dinner. it was well received. one of the things we have talked about with each of the first
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ladies profiles is her stewardship of the white house. during her time in the white house, laura bush did a restoration of the lincoln bedroom. we will watch as she talks about that, next. >> we have refurbished the lincoln bedroom. i would say that is the biggest renovation proverb -- project that we worked on. it was last done by truman when he set it up to be the lincoln lincoln to have the furniture in it. when lincoln lived here, the room was his office. inn truman redid the house the late 1940's and early 1950's, he set up that room, the room we now call the lincoln bedroom, to commemorate the fact that it was lincoln's office, and it was the room he signed the emancipation proclamation in. so the room itself is really a shrine, i think, to american history. truman did the room then and it had never been refurbished, so it really needed it.
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the carpet was over 50 years old. with the white house historical association, the preservation board who are furniture core eight -- curators , they are the real scholars, and the white house curator, of course. we looked back at the wallpaper lincoln had in his office, at the carpet he had in his office, and we did reproductions of those. then we had old photographs of the way mary todd lincoln dressed the lincoln bedroom the purple and gold and french and legs, high victorian decorations. we did have later photographs with the bed still dressed the way she had dressed it, so we did that again. used thed the bushes white house as a social instrument during their years? what was entertaining like while we had wars going on?
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>> i think they had only really , i think itertain backfired literally because they had fireworks and they had not warned everybody that it was happening, so they sort of exploded all over town. september 11, i think there was a great deal of thought as to what was appropriate and how to do it. i think laura bush was instrumental in seeing the white house as a living, historical institution and using it as a way to help people understand what the lives had been like for people who lived there at the time and the way it reflects the period in the context of the time. the meticulous need to re-create what mary lincoln had done is also about showing the tenor of the time and what was considered the right way to be. they favored smaller gatherings,
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.ertainly she was right, he went to bed at 9:00 at night. me take a call from david in utah. >> i was calling to ask about laura bush's influence on all attacks or the democratic rights in burma. she was championing that at the beginning of the second bush administration. curiousnd it kind of and i wish i knew more about that. i have not been able to understand exactly what moved her to do that. she really became quite outspoken in away i would argue that is her more forceful and surprising role as a first lady to wade into foreign policy in an area where the united states had been not all that engaged in speaking out against the generals and all that.
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is persistent, and i think that continues to this day along with her interest in women's rights in afghanistan. she recently appeared with secretary kerry and former secretary clinton at the state department to make this plea to not leave women behind. the issue about burma is a fascinating one, and i don't know very much about where that is coming from. >> she mentioned the white house a store: association. i want to remind you that the white house the story: associate -- just oracle association has been our partner in this series. association. i'm cognizant of our time here. somet to put on the record of laura bush posh
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accomplishments in office. as we mentioned, the first first president'sver the weekly radio address, the founder of the national book festival, which continues to this day, visited more than 75 countries during her eight years in the white house, and renovated the lincoln bedroom, among those that we are highlighting. in 2009 she became a private citizen again. how has she approached that aspect of her life? >> they went very comfortably back into their private life. i don't think they missed the grandeur of the white house. i think that used -- they eased very gracefully into private dallas. mrs. bush continues to be very much involved with the bush center, which i referenced busher, which includes the library. she was instrumental in the andning of the bush library i think her touch can be seen in the ground surrounding it with
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their native grasses and native plants, something she had great passion for. she continues to lead a very full life. she continues to pursue some of the qualities that were dear to her as first lady. you think you have just a brief time, but your impact us continue. she actually has more room to continue to be involved in these policy initiatives then a former president does or has suggested he wants to. he doesn't think it is ripe for a president to be criticizing another. had -- mrs. obama have they have worked together on a number of things and she and the secretary -- she has been surprisingly and happily engaged in a way she thought she might not be. >> we have a clip of her trip to africa with the current first
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lady, michelle obama. let's watch that's next. launching why we are the first lady's initiative. we want to convene this annually to highlight the significant role that they can play in addressing pressing issues in their country. >> i get asked, especially in the first term, are you more like laura bush or hillary clinton? i'm like, is that it? >> everyone said, are you hillary clinton or barbara bush? i said, i think i will be laura bush, having grown up as her. >> you have had the opportunity to see these first lady's talking about the role. what you hear is the desire of to part of the public typecast, and their desire to be
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themselves. >> they will always be competitive, are you going to be a more traditional first lady like mamie eisenhower or an activist like eleanor roosevelt? which one will you be? i think they all put their unique stamp on the role, and laura bush was no exception. have talkedr, you along the way about what a guarded individual she was. when you read her memoir, was it --e >> i was interested in hearing from her in her own words what she wants to reveal about who she is and what she reveals about what is important. tohink one of the keys understanding laura bush is that she is a reader. .hat is an integral part the gentleman david who called in from provo and wanted to know about whether she was more empathetic. i think that she finds power in the narrative and in story and
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in the human story. that is what she responds to. that is what touches her. that is what compels her to act, in many ways. i gathered from her a deeper understanding from that book the meaning of the west texas land, greatund of the wind, the giants of texas literature who have come before her that she returns to again and again. that is really a key to understanding who she is. she is not a crusader as much as she is a reader, and that informs the way she looks at life in many ways. >> he talked about the incongruity of being in west texas and reading plato. and leaving midland through those pages, through those narratives. i think it is exceptionally well-written. i was far more interested in the
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first part of it, which is the story of her growing up in midland. aboutites so poetically her duties as first lady which often gets into one ceremony after another. it is difficult to write compellingly about one's tenure as first lady because it is so ceremonial in nature. >> i want to thank you very much for this program. my question is, we have many influential first lady say go back through history. clinton,d be hillary michelle obama, or laura bush. what is the most important thing you believe that laura bush has done for women's rights? susan, of all the first ladies, which ones have impressed you the most? .> i'm going to pass on that did she make any advances for women's rights, the caller wants to know?
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quickset think with all these first ladies, it is really hard to judge them in the contemporary times in which we are in now. i would defer to my historian colleague here. i write about the now, in many ways. us tok it's too soon for know exactly what kind of impact laura bush has had, in terms of women's rights. i think she has been a representative in her own way for rights in a way that is not as expected as someone who has crusaded. doesi'm trying to say is, it come from a more traditional mean, to speak from that position on behalf of women who do not have opportunities? in some ways it makes them more effective because it is not quite as did. both the bushes take the long
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view of history. laura bush talks about the fact that she admired her husband for taking a long view of history and making difficult decisions during the course of his presidency that would not necessarily manifest themselves in popularity. i think you are right, his , how it is reflected, is very much in the balance. we will see what happens. he knows that and most historians know that. her contributions as first lady will be revealed as we begin to see the forest for the trees. >> we have just a couple of minutes left. people have asked along the way and i have been negligent in asking on their behalf, since she is the only first lady to have had a mother-in-law who people arehe role, curious about the relationship between the two of them. what can you tell us? >> i think they have a good
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relationship, and a strong relationship, as best as i can tell. i wouldn't presume to say you know exactly what is between a mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law. barbara bush has a large personality. when she first came to , she was said to say, what do you do? smoke, and iad, i admire. that was her way of saying this is who i am and what i'm going to be doing, and i may not fit some mold. think she respected very much her mother-in-law's life. barbara bush, for her part, has to laura forteful settling down her boy.
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>> there is great mutual admiration. they are very different women, but i think that's right. i think barbara bush saw and laura bush the qualities of a great political partner, a great spou for her husband. se correspondentc and they gave george and laura their first grandchild. i want toe tonight, say thank you to our guests for helping us understand more about the stillnd times and unfolding legacy of laura bush. thanks to both of you for being here and taking our calls and questions throughout the evening. you're going to close with some thoughts about the memories of the bush family. the president and their two daughters on their mother, first
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lady laura bush. thanks for being with us. >> i do not want to steal barbara's -- i feel like i always deal her energy when i go first. >> you go first this time. >> probably her work for women. all over, really. we were so lucky because our parents took us to travel to see clinicse got to and schools and meeting people whose lives will be forever changed. . would say her work for women and my dad, too, i am very proud of him for that. >> i would definitely echo that. -- i am going to cry. in front of all the people. i think the work that she did after 9/11 and how comforting she was to everyone in the
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country is an incredible legacy and was really critical to the country healing after 9/11. [applause] ofif i were doing a series first ladies, i would be probing this question. could the first lady handle the pressure? is no, then the life of the president will be miserable. pillaras calming and a of strength in the midst of all the noise and finger pointing and yelling and all of the stuff that goes on in washington. ,he was a great first lady really great first lady. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] ♪
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>> join us for "first ladies" next monday, when we examine the life of michelle obama. from her time at stanford and harvard to her time when she
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meant toward another young lawyer, barack obama. will look at the causes she has taken on, including childhood obesity. that is next monday. and our website has more about the first ladies, including a special section, welcome to the white house, reduced by the white house historical association. it chronicles life in the executive mansion during the tenure of each of the first ladies. go to c-span.org. we are also offering a special edition of the book "first ladies of the united states of which includes a biography and a portrait of each of the first ladies. "s part of our "first ladies series, we spoke recently with first lady laura bush at the campus of smu in dallas.
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over the next 1.5 hours, she talks about her life before the white house, what she has been doing since leaving washington, and her reflections on her time as first lady. your initial reaction the first time your husband said, i think i am going to run for president? >> i cannot remember exactly what my initial reaction was. i think it was a little bit slower than saying, all of a sudden, i am going to run for president. he was governor. he had been governor for one term and reelected. slowly, i think we both started talking about it. he talked about it and other people were talking to him about it. and i knew what it was like. i knew already what it would be like to run for president. i knew what it would be like to live in the white house. george and i had an advantage that only one other family has had so far, the john quincy
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adams family, the guys we have seen somebody we loved in that office and we visited them very often. we lived in washington, in fact, or 1987, rather, to work on resident bush's -- bush's campaign. they still had time to benefit -- to babysit barbara and jenna on saturday night when george and i would want to go out to dinner. president bush was elected in november of 1988. it was a wonderful bonding time for our family, the only time i ever lived in the same town with my in-laws. my mother-in-law and i had a chance to bond. our little girls had a chance to get to know their grandparents in a way that they had not really. their grandfather had been vice president for the most part in their lives.
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they were born right after he was elected vice president. i knew what it would be like. my whole hesitation was because i knew what it would be like. in politics, you can be defined in a way that you are not. that is what we saw with president bush. it was so distressing for us in 1992 when he lost. because he was characterized in a way that we knew he was not. that is just the risk you run. it is also what you know it is going to be like, i think, which makes all the difficulty of it, the difficulty of being defined in a way you are not or being criticized by your opponents or even your friends. you know, something that you can live with because you know that is just how it is in america. and one of the great things about our country is that we can say whatever we want about the people who run for office. and even about our president. >> is a tough to develop that
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thick skin? >> it is. and of course, it always bothers you. on the other hand, i know george and i know what he is like. just like his dad. we know what he is like as well. the criticisms, in a lot of ways , just our criticisms from people who do not know and are not with you everyday, like i was with george everyday. you grow into the first lady role? >> it took me a long time to grow into it. i had watched my mother-in-law, which was a huge advantage as well. that wereot of things minor things about living in the white house. i knew that you needed to keep a christmas theme in march, be ready with the christmas decorations. for the white house christmas card, you needed to start quite early, especially if you want to use an american artist.
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those were things i already knew and it was a huge help to know those. not only did i know how to do those things that the first lady, or at least i wanted to be involved in, but i also knew everyone that worked there. we knew the bothers, the ushers, the white house court, all of the people who served there for president after president. that was a huge advantage for us. when we moved in that first day, there were lots of hugs with the butlers and the ushers that we had known before. of course, resident bush and barbara bush were there on our first night in the white house. all of us were in the house together that first night and we knew all the people there. rather, when88, inaugurated,h was
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january of 1989, the white house florist met little barbara and jenna, who were seven. when they got too cold at the parade and wanted to come into the white house before we had left the parade and president the and barbara had left parade, nancy clark, the white house florist, met them at the door and took them down into the lowest shop to make a little bouquet for their bedrooms where they were staying in the white house. a wonderful sense of security to already know everyone who works there and have a friendship with them. laura welch in midland texas in the 1950's, did you ever imagine a life that you have had? >> never. i never would have ever thought that i would live in the white house or expected to marry someone who would become president. i think that is what happens to a lot of people. things happen in your life that you do not expect.
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a lot of them are great and wonderful. some are not. but i would have never expected to live in the white house. say, i was ave to teacher, a librarian. that is what i always wanted to do. when i was in the second grade, my favorite thing to do, reading , i did expect that. that is what i worked for always. i went to graduate school or undergraduate school for an education. that is what i did expect in my life and that is what i would not have thought would have helped with my husband -- when my husband became governor and then president. it was really great preparation for a life in politics, to have worked in public schools, to have taught in public schools
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and to have been a public school librarian. it was a great advantage to know what it was like to work in the schools, because education is such an important issue. both for a governor, but also for president. that was very helpful to me. and then, of course, having read a million stories to kids all those years was good experience for speech giving. >> in your book "spoken from the heart," you talk about your grandmother and your mother and their talents. >> my mother and my grandmother were both naturalists. my mother is 94. she is alive and she lives in midland, texas. she is doing very well. i try to go out there every few weeks to see her. she is not traveling anymore, but she is doing great. my mother and my grandmother were both naturalists. they were very interested in gardening. they were interested in lance.
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mime -- in plants. my mother became a birdwatcher. she really got a lifelong interest in bird watching. that was something that informed my life. that love of the outdoors, the whole idea of how beautiful the natural world is, especially plants in the landscape. when lady bird johnson was the first lady of the united states, i was always proud that the texas first lady saw the beauty in the natural world and encouraged people in all parts of our country to plant wildflowers on the highways, both because they do the best there because it is their natural habitat, but also because they are beautiful. when year in washington,
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the daffodils bloom on the george washington parkway, i am reminded of lady bird johnson, because i know she wanted it to be that way. when we plan the bush library, we wanted our 15-acre park that surrounds the bush center to be like a prairie that would have been exactly like the settlers would have found when they came through your -- through here. we worked with the lady bird johnson wildlife center to plant the plants that we had all around the library. it is a mixture of five native texas or, mainly buffalo grass, which stays low, but others as well. the first big application of it as nady turfgrass. and also, they do not need to be
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watered very often. >> how did you get to smu from midland, texas? >> i went to look at a number of schools with my mother. i looked at tulane, texas tech, which is where my dad went, in lubbock, not far from where i grew up, and i looked at the university of texas. with one of my really good high school friends, we both said, let's go to smu. that is what we decided to do. i watched a lot of smu football players like don meredith and a few others at the high school and i knew about smu from their football program. also, they are southern methodist and this is a methodist school. >> what was it like growing up in midland, texas in 1950? >> it was a wonderful place to grow up. midland is very safe and eight very loving community where you
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knew if you did anything wrong and some neighbor saw you, they would tell on you. to go everywhere in midland. we rode our bikes to the little shopping center to the lunch at the pharmacy. lots -- thee has drugstore, i had lots of really good friends and i am still very close with the people i grew up with in midland. withct, i hike every year a group of four other midland friends of mine. we see each other all the time. it is really terrific now to be with them. now it takes five of us to remember somebody's name. we also know each other's history and all of our old boyfriends and all of the same things about each other because we were in elementary school, junior high, and high school together. there is great security in having friends that were your friends when you were a child
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and having that kind of history of friendship and george also grew up in midland. bushes lived in midland until they were in the eighth grade, when they moved to houston. from elementary school, those same great friends of mine were in the first grade and second grade with george. friends that-- his he played baseball with were my friends. we used to invite all of them to the white house. a very thrilling valentines dinner once with all of those friends of ours and one of my friends who came from that and shebreast cancer was dying. she died in april after that. it was really wonderful to have the chance to be with those theyds and to know that were our friends for our whole life and they would be our friends for the rest of our life. >> you even went hiking with that group of friends when you were first lady.
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>> that is right. we hiked for years before george became president. hiketered the lottery to in the camps of yosemite for about three years while george was governor. our names were never drawn. as soon as he was elected, i called him and said, guess what? we won the lottery. yosemite,e hiked in one of our most beautiful national parks. we did not displace anybody because we were always a day ahead of the other people that came into the camp. theiked one day before upper camp opened. that was really fun. we hiked in all of the big national parks. the grand canyon was the first national park we hiked in together. many years ago.
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when george was president, we all took our girls. barbara, one of my daughters, was in africa, working in a hospital. , butid not yet to go jenna, that was a lot of fun. we still get to go. we have been back to glacier and yellowstone and probably not too yosemite because it is just too hard for us at our age. >> have you been stopped and recognized? >> we always do. we have one party as a fundraiser. western parks have friends groups. this summer, we had a big party at the superintendent's house for all the supporters of yellowstone national park to come. that was fun. >> what do you enjoy most about being texas first lady?
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>> i love being texas first lady because i love my state and i know my state so well. i have always lived here. have traveled all over our state. i do not think i made it to every single county. m,think there are 253 of the but i did make it almost everyone. in many cases, it was nostalgic. being a part of the state that i visited with my parents. we would go on summer vacations or a part of the state where my grandmother had lived in el paso or lubbock, where my dad's mother lived. so i love that. see theoved getting to very best of your state. and in the most unlikely corners of your state. i would see the most terrific ramps -- programs that texas had founded.
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programs,eally great just groups, women's clubs started to support either child protective services or protection of children who were abused, were in foster families that needed special care or literacy programs that were founded so that anyone could come in and be taught how to read. in our state, we have a lot of people who do not read in english. andwant to learn english read in english. those programs were great to see. texas, wherest people are very rural eyes -- r uralized, i saw terrific rogue programs that go around so people can be tested to see if they have breast cancer. just to get into the biggest
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hospital is a long drive. >> would you consider yourself a natural campaigner, a natural public person? >> i think i would now. i would not have thought that to begin with. after all, i am a librarian. i am an interview at i am married to an extrovert, which i like. -- i am an introvert. i am married to an esther vert, which i'll tax an extrovert, which i like. i wanted to be married to someone who could entertain me for the rest of my life, and he has, for sure. i think there is a place even for introverts in politics. grow to not be the kind of shy person i thought of myself as. >> do you remember the first time you had to give a public speech?
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george and i, he promised i would never have to give a political speech. about three months into our marriage, there i was on the steps of the courthouse during this speech because he could not come, with all of the other candidates for the congressional race he was running for, 2 democrats and 3 republicans. george had some obligation so he could not come. the candidates themselves were shaking their heads to me, you can do it. that was sweet. all the people on the front row. people are very kind, especially to the spouse of a candidate in our state. >> do you still get nervous before speeches? >> not that much anymore. i also know i have to have a speech and be prepared, know what i am going to talk about. as long as i have this speech
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that i think is a good speech, i am not that nervous. >> as an older child, what was it like marrying into the bush family? >> it was terrific. when i was little, i wanted brothers and sisters. my mother lost several pregnancies and i knew that was their great desire, that they wanted a lot of children. i wanted brothers and sisters, and that is what i felt like i got when i married george and got his brothers and sister and their spouses, of course. family andand her one of his brothers and his family live in washington dc, so we saw them all the time. there is great emotional support having your family members around you live at the white house. i would notice that his brother tough,when times were would call and say let's watch the game this weekend.
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they would not talk about politics. george in martin could sit and watch a -- george and marvin could sit and watch a game in a way that only you can with your brother or your sister. i worked out several times a week with my sister-in-law, margaret. she would drive him from alexandria to the white house early in the morning so we could work out together. that was a lot of fun and also great emotional support for me. they all came to camp david with their children. they had a standing invitation, george told them. many times, when we were going to camp david for the weekend, they would come and have a lot of fun. we went to church at the chapel at camp david and they would be there with us. >> how important, during your presidency, was the ranch at camp david? >> it was very important to us.
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we did not go that often. almost every year that george was president and that was going to be there with them, president bush and barbara, where they were. we did not go after hurricane katrina. we had not gone that summer as we were scheduled in a way that we could not go. so we did not go at all that year. in the going there summer was just to be with them, president bush and bar. -- and barb. and to get that emotional support that you get from being with your parents, especially in such a familiar location that george had gone to his whole life with his parents and grandparents. the ranch was very important. whenis where we vacationed ,e took the weeks off in august when congress had gone home for a vacation. we went to our ranch. home and our
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furniture, the house we had built the that was our property. -- the house we had built. that was our property. in a way, it was a break from living in the white house, being in our own home. we also used it to entertain a lot. i think we asked more than a dozen people to the ranch and it gave us a chance to show them what our life was like and give us a chance to entertain them in a way that was very personal. not that entertaining at the white house was not also personal. of course, all of the world leaders wanted to come to the white house. visitedthem had already president clinton at the white house. to come to our ranch was a special thing that we had and they appreciated it. we are doing a big prairie
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restoration at our ranch. we started in 2000, when we bought the property. that is one of the reasons i wanted to do this prairie at the because i wanted to let people in texas know what our state was like before it was grazed and built over and paved in many parts. at the bush center, we are right by a central expressway. we are by a big freeway. to be able to see what this part of the state would have been like. that is what we have done at the ranch. we had a chance to show our s, the heads of state that came to visit, what a central texas prairie would have been like. it, ira member the australian prime minister that came. the whole aussie party wanted to talk about it because they were the same way. they had this very large, wide-open country, like ours
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was. they talked about how they restored their grasslands as well and what they did to do that. >> what was your approach to entertaining in the white house and how do you go from one day being the first lady of texas to entertaining foreign leaders? >> that was really a very enjoyable part of it could -- part of it. there is a huge team that works on entertaining. obviously, the state department, you are working with them on the plans for the state dinner, on the invitation that goes out to the world leader to ask them to come. he white house social office and secretary as well and the white house florist and the white house chef, everyone involved in trying to plan a dinner that would be the most american but
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respect the culture of the world leader who you are entertaining. it was really fun to work on those and make all of those plans. he always did a tasting of the food that the chef had proposed. we would ask members of congress to come to the tasting and tell them they were guinea pigs for the state dinner they were hosting. of course, they would be very forthright and say, i do not think you should do this. this is not that tasty. they would be more forthcoming than our friends would be, who would just say, that is great, whatever you've got. that was fun, really. we would spread it out over a number of nights to do tastings and talk about what we would have

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